For most traits, phenotypic variation is continuous and caused by genetic variation in multiple genes, interactions among these genes, and interactions with the environment. The field of quantitative genetics focuses on these so-called quantitative traits, aiming to understand the genetic architecture underlying trait variation as well as the evolutionary causes and consequences of this variation. Quantitative genetics plays a key role in understanding the origins of biodiversity, diseases affecting human health, the impacts of climate change, and selective breeding of plants and animals. This collection highlights a series of important papers that delve into some fundamental questions in this field.
Collection
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Evolutionary Biology
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Genetics and Genomics
Similar evolutionary pressures on gene expression between human and chimpanzee populations contribute to the observation that inter-individual gene expression variability is similar across genes in these species.
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Genetics and Genomics
Rare, evolutionarily recent variants have larger effect sizes and are more likely to decrease fitness, providing evidence that quantitative traits in yeast have evolved under purifying selection.
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Genetics and Genomics
Infection and metabolic syndrome lead to a loss of molecular regulation, and changes in molecular correlations are under genetic control as revealed by the presence of correlation quantitative trait loci.
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Genetics and Genomics
Substantial heritable genetic variation in adaptability and the pleiotropic consequences of adaptation exists in budding yeast, and can be explained by a combination of fitness and specific segregating alleles.
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Genetics and Genomics
Whole genome DNA sequence analysis, genome wide gene expression and complex organismal phenotypes in Drosophila mutation accumulation lines provide a robust estimate of the spontaneous mutation rate and mutational effects.
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Computational and Systems Biology
Systematic analysis of a broad spectrum of behavioral and physiological traits reveals novel relationships among complex traits, and resolves their underlying combination of genetic loci and molecular mechanisms.
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Evolutionary Biology
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Genetics and Genomics
Polygenic selection signals in humans estimated from previously existing GWAS should be viewed with caution due to concerns about residual population stratification.
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Plant Biology
Heritable variation in the benefit maize plants receive from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi supports the feasibility of breeding crops to optimize use of this ancient symbiosis.
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Ecology
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Plant Biology
Environmental heterogeneity may contribute to the high levels of genetic variation in glucosinolate genes found in Arabidopsis thaliana.
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Evolutionary Biology
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Genetics and Genomics
Hundreds of loci underlying ecological adaptation to different environmental conditions show striking differences in allele frequencies between ecotypes of Atlantic herring.
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